Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed three secret decrees amid the unexpected and unannounced visit to Moscow by CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The Moscow Times reports this, citing the Russian legal information portal, according to UNN.
Details
According to the portal, on August 25, Putin signed three open and published decrees — numbers 608, 609, and 610. Two of them concern a change of Russia’s ambassador to Iraq, while another changes the composition of commissions dealing with people with disabilities and veterans.
At the same time, Putin’s latest decree, signed the day before, on August 24, is numbered 604. It allows the state to take virtually any facilities and enterprises under “temporary administration” if their owners have not provided adequate protection against UAV strikes.
Thus, three more of Putin’s decrees were signed but were not published on the portal and are classified: numbers 605, 606, and 607.
During his visit to Moscow, the first since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the CIA chief met with Putin — for this purpose, the president canceled one of the events for which “hundreds of people” had been preparing, Kremlin pool correspondent Alexander Yunashev reported.
It remains unclear what exactly was discussed in the talks. The Wall Street Journal writes that Ratcliffe may have delivered a warning to Putin in connection with U.S. intelligence showing that the Kremlin is preparing a new round of mobilization and a possible provocation against NATO. The iPaper links Ratcliffe’s visit to a possible prisoner exchange.